The opening night of this season's Vanberg Cup playoffs are in the books and we've already seen an upset. The Camrose Bruins upended the President's Cup winning Red Deer Rustlers 6-2 in front of over 600 fans in Camrose Friday night. The Bruins were full marks for their win as they continually pressured the Rustlers. Bruins goaltender Curtis Skip was especially sharp in the third period when Red Deer pushed to even the score. The Bruins scored 4 unanswered goals after the teams got through the first period tied at 2. Brett Njaa 2-1-3 scored the winner in the second period and added an insurance goal in the 3rd to pace the Bruins, while Ashton Kelly scored twice and Jarod Hovde and Carter Burton 1-1-2 added singles. Rustler's captain Mike Dempster and Nate Higgens replied for Red Deer who fall behind in the series 1-0. Game 2 is Saturday in Penhold.
In other games, the Devon Barons dumped the visiting Morinville Kings 6-2 in the first game of their series. As was the case last week, Morinville stayed in the game for two periods before Devon pulled away in the third. Eric Deleeuw 1-3-4 paced the Barons, with Dayton Heino 1-1-2, Josh Dugas with 2, Cody Issler and Bandon Powlik with singles. Jordan Cooke was solid turning away 31 shots to get the win. Replying for the Kings were Zach Giacobbo and Isaac Tkachuk, who lost captain Matt Benko with a suspected shoulder injury. Game two of this series goes Saturday in Morinville.
The last game saw defending Vanberg Cup Champions Lacombe Generals dump the hometown Wetaskiwin Longhorns 5-3 in front of over 1200 fans in the first ever Vanberg Cup playoff game in Wetaskiwin. Jamie Johnson 2-1-3 led the way for the Generals, Tyrell Bourk added 1-1-2, with single goals coming from Thomas Beretta and Kade Garrity. Mac Engel had a solid night turning away 32 of 35 shots. Replying for the Longhorns was Jake Mytikiuk 1-2-3, Marty Sonnenberg and captain RJ Reed 1-1-2. These teams go at it again on Saturday in Lacombe.
The schedule for tonight is:
Camrose at Red Deer 7:30 in Penhold
Devon at Morinville 8:00
Bonnyville at Westlock 8:30
Wetaskiwin at Lacombe 8:45
There is only one game scheduled for tomorrow:
Westlock at Bonnyville 6:30
